【电科技11月13日消息】11月8日，阿里巴巴集团创始人马云获香港科技大学工商管理学荣誉博士学位，他在现场致辞时表示，青年学生要想成为成功人士，Must be  persistent，Be optimistic，Embrace the change。

    马云在致辞中全程用英文演讲，他说““World never change unless you change yourself，他认为，要避免失败的方式是改变自身，并要在巅峰的时候改变模式，要把握时机对商业模式作出根本改革，做到未雨绸缪。

    中国企业家能熟练掌握英语并不多，笔者发现科技界以李彦宏、张朝阳、李开复等代表的假洋鬼子大都可以熟练使用英文，而曹国伟、马化腾、丁磊等土鳖基本都需要借助翻译交流。

    奇虎360董事长周鸿祎曾自爆当年公司赴美IPO路演时，用吭吭吧吧的英语跟投资者交流。

    纵观10多年前中国互联网产业，当时的风险投资公司基本都是国外资本，本土企业很少涉足。张朝阳和马云创办的搜狐和阿里巴巴当时较为容易获得融资，有观点认为二者熟练掌握英文，能与海外基金畅通无阻沟通，比较容易获得对方认可。

    当时也有不少人因为英文差，很难获得境外资本青睐，丁磊的网易和马化腾的腾讯就是典型。网易在初创晚期才得到融资，而马化腾的腾讯一直无人问津，几乎到了关门歇业，发不出工资的窘境。

    世纪佳缘创始人龚海燕算是中国式哑巴英语的典型代表之一。她自爆世纪佳缘当年赴美IPO时无比尴尬，不管是和投资人见面还是在饭店点菜，始终不敢开口讲一句英语，全程依赖CFO翻译。

    要知道，龚海燕1998年可是以高考英语136分考入北京大学中文系。

    回北京后，她报了一个英语培训班，花了58000元买了100多节课，最终却没能坚持，钱也打了水漂。

    话不多说，让我们分享马云在2009年APEC会议演讲：

After 3 days, you know, inhouse meeting Internal and fly all the way here, and I did not feel quite well today. But when I see the entrepreneurs, when I came to the SMEs, I always feelexcited. Because when I join the SME Conference, I see, from the eyes, the dreams,the passion, the hope. When I join the Fortune 500 Conference, among the CEOs, I see the numbers, I see the revenues, I see the KPIs, I see the bloodycompetition. But among the SMEs, you see "I have a dream, I want to dosomething." And that happens all the time and that makes me excited allthe time.

    And today I think last yearevery people say:"Woo, the economic is in trouble, and we are all dead,what we are going to do?" Today everybody seems to be happy, say theeconomy come back .Is it really that the economy comes back? I don\'t think so.The money is going to big companies, the money goes to infrastructure; themoney goes back to the stock market. It seems nobody learns from that. How canthe economy come back if the SMEs do not come back? How can the economic comeback if the dreams are not back, the hopes not come back?

    I saw one thing that, few days,you know, 2 days ago I had a dinner with my Singapore friends and they said: “Singaporegovernment is encouraging to have more babies, Because, you know , people areaging and not enough kids.” I think SMEs, we, every economy, every nation,needs instant package to have more small medium size companies, to have morehopes, because every big company comes from the small business. If withouthope, without this kind of instants to have more babies, we are going to die.

    Why I always feel excited? I have 8 babies. In the far past 15 years, I built up 8 companies, seven of them,very healthy; one of them, I sold it. And I keep the babies, when I look at mybabies--Alibaba , Taobao, Alipay and you know ,the company we just haveAliCloud, we just have a new baby 2 month ago . I always feel excited becauseyou see the hope, you know this baby is going to change me, this baby is goingto change the world can change the customers. And that’s the thing I alwaysfeel excited. If you want to be happy, have more babies. If you are thegovernment, want your economy to be good, have more SMES. These are the dreams,these are the hope, these are the future. So this is all we want to say, butenough, we’ve been crying, say: “please give us support.” But all the SMES askyourself one question. We are not crying babies. We believe we are tomorrow’sGoogle, we believe we are tomorrow’s eBay, YouTube; we believe we aretomorrow’s UPS. If we believe we are, we can be; if you don’t believe, younever be.

    We heard a lot of governmentsay:” (we give you) let me know what we can do. let me know what we can helpSMES.” we heard a lot of banks say:” well, we’ve been, you know, give loans toa lot of SMES.”I heard some bank said, well, one of the bank president said: “wegave like, you know, 200 millions US$ to the SMES.”I ask:” what’s the size theloan you give?”20 millions dollars. How can you say the 20 millions? As the researchI got, from Alibaba Group (Alibaba statistic), 87% of the SMES, what they need,the fund is below 60 thousand US$. But they gave the loan 20 millions to somebig companies, they are not SMES, they are not the hopes.

    But, I think all the SMES say (that)nobody can help you. My 8 companies, I always say, nobody help us, only we canhelp ourselves. Don’t rely on the government, don’t rely on the bank, forgetabout that. Rely on your friends, rely on relatives, rely on your small dreamsand always keep that thing in head. Because I’ve been trying very hard to getloans from banks, always trouble. Within the past the years, I even did notborrow one cent from banks, my kids grew up, I don’t know why.

    And the banks always saybecause we don’t have enough information from the SMEs. Tell me, any fortune500, any big bank, CEOs or presidents go to the SMEs summit? No! They go to theCEOs summit. How could you get information if you do not go there to listen tothem, talk to them, share experiences with them? To see what they need is only50 thousand US$, instead of 20 million dollars. How can you get enough information?So, I think, well, we discussed yesterday say, banks are banks. They alwayshave to control the risk. Right! So government banks, let’s think aboutsomething new. New financial structure that can really help those millions ofhopeful small companies that need only 50 thousand US $. What is the rightstructure, what is the right organization to support them? That’s the thing weshould think about.

    So the other thing I want toshare with you here is always I believe that small is beautiful. And thisfinancial crisis, it gave a lot of disaster; it’s a disaster to big companies.This world, in 21th century, I think in last century, it’s bigger is better.You have big (you know) factory, big amount, everything is big is good. Thiscentury, in the 21st century, I always believe small is beautiful. Because it’snot how fast your machine is. It’s not how many equipment you have, it is howquickly you can change yourself to meet the market.

    Because the information time,Internet and technology make a difference. So the world IT last century isdesigned for the manufacturers. This century IT is designed for making a helpto the consumers. So I think this is a disaster for the big company, centurydisasters for big companies. But it is a great opportunity for smallbusinesses. For this financial crisis, we see a lot of big companies, we wouldnever thought they would die, AIG, to me it’s like the empire, how could thishappen. Right all the G, the big car company which we respect, we always wantto be there. But today, they all died.

    And let’s look at all the SMES, we still feel painful, but we are happy in our heart because we are stillsurviving. And we heard so many stories about big companies giving trouble. AndI see the society; the government pays too much attention to these big troublemakers. They are the trouble makers and we gave them enough support, let them die;It’s the time for them to die because they make troubles. Every big company,they have different disaster, different problems, but all the SMES, have thesame problems. They need understanding and support.

    This world is not fair, Iknow, so that’s why I want to encourage everyone all the SMES here, I’m theSME, I have 8 kids, I am still SME, I still believe I’m small. Because when Iam small, I know l can be big and I hate to be big, unfortunately. When I was asmall company, only have 20 people, I felt so excited. Well, I can call everyemployee’s names and I know every time, everything I want to change, I canchange within half a minute. Now, oh, terrible. When I was 20 years old, myfriends said:” you company is not big enough. If you are big, you are like abig boss. You are easy, right, you can control your time.” No, my time is notcontrolled by myself; my time is controlled by all the meetings, sectary, KPI,shareholders, all the things. It’s much tougher than when you are small. So Ialways believe thefirst day love is every beautiful.Believe the first day love, when you are small, at least you can have time togo out go to cinema with your wife and kids and enjoy wonderful view. But whenyou are big, you always go to the board meetings. 

    And also I want to saythat,  I give you some, today I comehere, people say Jack, you do not prepare, why don’t you have PPT.I neverprepare PPT, you know, I’m not good at technology. I was trained to be a highschool teacher and the only thing I can know about computer, funny thing, I’mrunning one of the biggest e-commerce companies in China, maybe in the world,but I know nothing about computer, the only thing I can know about computer isto send and receive email and browse. That’s it. Because I always thinktechnology is for the people, people are not working for the technology. Buttoday I come here, as an entrepreneur. I am prepared every day. I’m notprepared for the PPT, because every time when I use the PPT, something wrong, Icannot use it.

    So I come here to tell my old experiences, I wantto share with you as 8 kids’ father what I did when I have trouble. When I havetrouble, I always remind me 3 things: focus on your customer, serve youremployees, and learn from your competitors. These are the key issues that Ilearned.

    Focus on your customer, everybody toady talkingabout shareholder NO.1, I hate that. I think it’s always customer NO.1. It’sthe customer give you the money. It’s the customer give you the innovations.It’s the customer that makes you happy. Year 1999 and year 2000, when Internetbubble burst, we cannot get any money, we did not have revenue, we havenothing, but everyday what encouraged me go on was letters of thanks and emailsfrom my customers, said Jack, Alibaba, keep on. Because you helped us, somedaywe will help you. That’s the dream I had.

     Rely and serveyour employees, it’s you employee, your team that make the difference. It’s theemployees that make all the dreams realize. If we say we have so many problemsin our big companies have a problem in getting the innovation, how to makething happen, well, because they do not listen to the employees, they focus toomuch on the shareholders. And the shareholders, they give you this idea, thatidea, when you really do their idea, they are gone. They change all the time,but the employees stay with you.

    I remember the tough days, was so difficult year 2001 and 2002. There was only one group of people that staywith me, that’s my colleagues. And people say Jack:” you don’t have to pay mefor 2 years, I will stay with the company because you respect us, because thecustomers love us. “I tell you one funny thing, the only way you believe youremployees are talents, they are talented people. If you don’t believe them,they will never be. My mistake I made when I was, in the year 2000, we raised500 thousand US$ and that 5 million dollars. When we have money, we started tomake mistakes. I tried to hair as many talents as possible. Those talents are MBAs;those talents are vice presidents of multinational companies, because I believeif you have MBA, you must be good, right. But when I hired these guys, oh, mygod, it’s terrible. These guys came to tell you strategy. I only had 5 milliondollars, I remember one of the vice president marketing said: “Jack this is thebudget for next year marketing.” I said: “what that, 12 million dollars is. Ionly have 5 million.” He said:” I never done any plan below 10 million.” Whensomething wrong, is always your fault, because you never know. So try to findthe right people, not the best people or your employees. So if you try to hiregreat people in your own company which your company is not good enough at thattime, just like put a Boone 747’s engine into a poor tractor, when that goes,your tractor never fly, into pieces. So my suggestion is that look at youremployees, develop them, only when they are developed, your company will be developed.

    The day when we IPO, wecreated more than a thousand millionaires at least in the company. All the guysin the sitting room, we had a chat. Said:” ask me. Now tell me one thing, whyyou are so successful. Why we are so successful when we are 20s, becomemillionaires. What happened, are we very hard working people. I think there aremuch more hard working people outside. Do you think we are smart enough? Oh Atleast, I’m not smart, I took 3 years 3 times to go to the university. I failedall the times. I don’t think I’m smart, I don’t think you are smart. “

    And that time in the year 2000,it’s so difficult for Alibaba to hire people. If they are not very that muchdisabled, we hired them, if they can walk, we hired them. Because nobodybelieved the Internet, nobody believed e-commerce would work in China, nobodybelieved that. You know, Internet can happen. But these guys, because they haveno jobs, so let’s come here. They joined the company. Those MBAs, Those peoplewith great backgrounds, a lot of hunting company, they moved out, they startedtheir own business, now, today they all failed. Those guys, nobody huntingthem, those guys, never thought of having the dream to build their own companyand stayed with the company. After 5 years, we all succeed. Why? We keep ourdreams, we believed it, no matter how big your dreamis, make small tiny steps .I had and grow with them, grow up with the company.

    So, my mistake in year 2001 Itold my 18 founders, I said: “you guys can only be team manager, all the VPs Iwill hire from outside.” Now 10 years have passed, all the wonderful people Ihired from outside, 100% gone. And those which I think, how could you besuccessful. These guys all become VPs and directors. They are all powerful.Because they believe they can. So I want to tell everybody here, we all smallbut care your employees. These are the people, they have the families, theyhave dreams, they come here not only for the job, they come here with the dreamto get shared with you.

    But in China, people say,Jack, you are so crazy. Because 4 years ago, I said, when I look though themicroscope, I never see my competitors. People say, “How could you be thatKuang wang.”And I said: “I’m looking for examples, models, why should I lookfor competitors. Competitors are everywhere.” And when you compete, having youfound the most interesting part of the business is competition. To make yourcompetitors angry, to make your competitors jumping around, that’s the skillyou should have. Not make yourself jumping around and angry, right? Business issuch a great fun. When you compete, when I compete, if I got angry, if Ijumping around, I know something wrong. Because this is a wrong strategy tocompete. When you compete, not the purpose to make your competitors unhappy. Ifthey are unhappy, if they jumping around, if they try to use money to care ofthings, you start to win. Because they start to lose money. When competitorsstart to use money to compete, they start to lose. Business is about wisdom,business is about hope, business is about courage.

    So these are old excuse, and nobodycomfort us I learned to use my right hand to comfort my left hand when I’m introuble. You always tell yourself, OK, I’m still surviving, I’m still growing,and everything is good. At least I’m still surviving. Right so when you arebig, you start to worry about losing something. When you are small, you startto grow. So I always believe small keeps the hope. So these are the thing Iwant to share with you and the last most important thing I want to say is neverever give up your dreams. I  almost ,Ithink, you cannot eat food for 7 days that you will die, five to seven days; ifyou do not drink for 3 days, you will die; if you do not breath for 3 minutes,you die; but if you lose hope and dream for 1 minute, you die.

    So I want to tell you that Ihad problems in the past 10 years. These days when I walk in China, when I lookat the airport, a lot of books about me, about the Alibaba, I feel verynervous. Because these are not the books interviewed me, these are the booksall right, we are not that good, we are not that bad. But today, something, youknow, successful, they started to write good things about it. We made so manymistakes. The only book that I dream to write about is Alibaba’s 1001 mistakes.Every mistake I think you count it, I made it. And I know you will make it,too. Because when I was doing business, everybody said:” Woo, this is amistake. This guy is going to make it, that guy is going to make it. I’m nevergoing to make it.” I tell you, you will never make it. And you will make itagain, again, and again. When you are making it again and again, don’t loseconfidence. Make it again, you will win. That’s all we did. I mean, nobody isperfect, right?

    So I almost lose my confidencein the year 2002. I had a big trouble with my team in the USA. I learned from agreat consult guy to join the company, Jack:”Alibaba is doing internationaltrade, international trade needs English. Which country has the best English youbelieve?” I think, USA, Right.” Now, internet needs great technology, whichcountry has the best technology? ”We said, hen USA. Where? The Silicon Valley.So we moved our Alibaba.com to the Silicon Valley. And when I arrived atSilicon Valley, we suddenly realized something wrong. We hired people fromMiami, from New York, from all over the world. They all came to the SiliconValley. After 3 months, the problem was that nobody in the Silicon Valley knewthe trade. So what’s the point having good technology and English. We are notEnglish site. All the small medium size companies, I across aboard, they knowwhat exactly what you are talking about no matter how terrible your English is.Right? So I stopped the mistake and I told the people, say: “sorry, it’s amistake. Let’s move back.” So after 2 months, we moved back to China again.

    The funny thing is thateverybody was happy at that time because Internet isboosting. They got a lot of compensation shares, they got a lot of cashpay and finding another job is easy. And nobody wants to the shares. We givethem one cent per share, no, no, no, we want cash. Now you know, they don’tbelieve your dreams. If they believe the dreams, give them the shares one cent.If they don’t believe, I want the cash, let them go. And I was so disappointed,a lot of people we hired, they do not want. They want cash. No matter howwonderful, at that time, it is easy to raise money, people still want cash. SoI say, OK, let forget it. And I walked for half an hour on Beijing Street, mycolleague was with me, and then I told myself,go to bed, sleep, tomorrow, again. Though ,We started. Today, things changed.So I want to tell you never ever give up your dreams.

    And today I encourage myselfand our team that reminds us one thing always I want to share with you tofinish my speech that--today is very difficult, tomorrow is much moredifficult, but the day after tomorrow is very beautiful. Most people dietomorrow evening. You will never be able to see the day after tomorrow’ssunshine if you give up the hope, you will not see it. If you give up youremployees, you will never see it, if you give up your customers, you will bedead. But if you give up shareholders, you will get a better one.

    Thank you!